Suppression of gene expression by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) has been demonstrated in a variety of systems including plants (post-transcriptional gene suppression) (Napoli et al., 1990), fungi (quelling) (Romano and Marcino, 1992), and nematodes (RNA interference) (Fire et al., 1998). Early attempts to similarly suppress gene expression using long dsRNAs in mammalian systems failed due to activation of interferon pathways that do not exist in lower organisms. Interferon responses are triggered by dsRNAs (Stark et al., 1998). In particular, the protein kinase PKR is activated by dsRNAs of greater than 30 bp long (Manche et al., 1992) and results in phosphorylation of translation initiation factor eIF2α which leads to arrest of protein synthesis and activation of 2′5′-oligoadenylate synthetase (2′-5′-OAS), which leads to RNA degradation (Minks et al., 1979).
In Drosophila cells and cell extracts, dsRNAs of 150 bp length or greater were seen to induce RNA interference while shorter dsRNAs were ineffective (Tuschl et al., 1999). Long double-stranded RNA, however, is not the active effecter molecule; long dsRNAs are degraded by an RNase III class enzyme called Dicer (Bernstein et al., 2001) into very short 21-23 bp duplexes that have 2-base 3′-overhangs (Zamore et al., 2000). These short RNA duplexes, called siRNAs, direct the RNAi response in vivo and transfection of short chemically synthesized siRNA duplexes of this design permits use of RNAi methods to suppress gene expression in mammalian cells without triggering unwanted interferon responses (Elbashir et al., 2001a). The antisense strand of the siRNA duplex serves as a sequence-specific guide that directs activity of an endoribonuclease function in the RNA induced silencing complex (RISC) to degrade target mRNA (Martinez et al., 2002).
In studying the size limits for RNAi in Drosophila embryo extracts in vitro, a lower threshold of around 38 bp double-stranded RNA was established for activation of RNA interference using exogenously supplied double-stranded RNA and duplexes of 36, 30, and 29 bp length (Elbashir et al., 2001b). The short 30-base RNAs were not cleaved into active 21-23-base siRNAs and therefore were deemed inactive for use in RNAi (Elbashir et al., 2001b). Continuing to work in the Drosophila embryo extract system, the same group later carefully mapped the structural features needed for short chemically synthesized RNA duplexes to function as siRNAs in RNAi pathways. RNA duplexes of 21-bp length with 2-base 3′-overhangs were most effective, duplexes of 20, 22, and 23-bp length had slightly decreased potency but did result in RNAi mediated mRNA degradation, and 24 and 25-bp duplexes were inactive (Elbashir et al., 2001c).
Some of the conclusions of these earlier studies may be specific to the Drosophila system employed. Other investigators established that longer siRNAs can work in human cells. However, duplexes in the 21-23-bp range have been shown to be more active and have become the accepted design (Caplen et al., 2001). Essentially, chemically synthesized duplex RNAs that mimicked the natural products that result from Dicer degradation of long duplex RNAs were identified to be the preferred compound for use in RNAi. Approaching this problem from the opposite direction, investigators studying size limits for RNAi in Caenorhabditis elegans found that although a microinjected 26-bp RNA duplex could function to suppress gene expression, it required a 250-fold increase in concentration compared with an 81-bp duplex (Parrish et al., 2000).
Despite the attention given to RNAi research recently, the field is still in the early stages of development. Not all siRNA molecules are capable of targeting the destruction of their complementary RNAs in a cell. As a result, complex sets of rules have been developed for designing RNAi molecules that will be effective. Those having skill in the art expect to test multiple siRNA molecules to find functional compositions. (Ji et al., 2003) Some artisans pool several siRNA preparations together to increase the chance of obtaining silencing in a single study. (Ji et al., 2003) Such pools typically contain 20 nM of a mixture of siRNA oligonucleotide duplexes or more (Ji et al., 2003), despite the fact that a siRNA molecule can work at concentrations of 1 nM or less (Holen et al., 2002). This technique can lead to artifacts caused by interactions of the siRNA sequences with other cellular RNAs (“off target effects”). (Scherer et al., 2003) Off target effects can occur when the RNAi oligonucleotides have homology to unintended targets or when the RISC complex incorporates the unintended strand from and RNAi duplex. (Scherer et al., 2003) Generally, these effects tend to be more pronounced when higher concentrations of RNAi duplexes are used. (Scherer et al., 2003)
In addition, the duration of the effect of an effective RNAi treatment is limited to about 4 days (Holen et al., 2002). Thus, researchers must carry out siRNA experiments within 2-3 days of transfection with an siRNA duplex or work with plasmid or viral expression vectors to obtain longer term silencing.
The invention provides compositions useful in RNAi for inhibiting gene expression and provides methods for their use. In addition, the invention provides RNAi compositions and methods designed to maximize potency, potentially increase duration of action and ease site selection criteria, while minimizing “off target effects.” These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.